WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with leaders of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, the day before he addresses the nation about a possible long-term U.S. plan to eliminate ISIS extremists.
In the past month, there have been nearly 145 U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq aimed at ISIS targets and that mission could be expanded in the coming months and years to include airstrikes in Syria from the U.S. and a coalition of nations against ISIS — the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, the President said he would not call for the deployment of U.S. ground troops in Syria. Congress could be asked, though, to authorize $500 million to train and arm pro-Western rebels there.
“I don’t think that there’s an appetite in West Virginia to have some full-fledged American troop presence in these regions and so, I think, we have to look at other options and that might be the option that’s the best option at this point,” said 2nd District Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the Republican U.S. Senate candidate.
Capito was a guest on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline” as part of a series of interviews with the statewide candidates leading up to the Nov. 4 general election.
“I think the President has to show clear leadership here which we haven’t seen,” Capito said.
“I think he needs to come to Congress and include us in this. We cannot let this terrorist group grow. We cannot let it foment in this region because we’ve seen what the results of that can be to our our own country.”
President Obama’s nationally televised address on Wednesday will come one day before the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, Pa.